From Variety · Angelique Jackson · · 1m 20s
She traded dance for acting, then Hollywood called
A hip injury ended one dream for Adia at 25, and the replacement led her to a film debut opposite Mahershala Ali.
In brief
A hip injury ended one dream for Adia at 25, and the replacement led her to a film debut opposite Mahershala Ali. When the thing you built your life around closes off, the need behind it can still find another door. Originally reported by Variety.
A newcomer at twenty five
Adia is 25 and had never pictured herself as a movie star. Her debut puts her opposite Mahershala Ali in 'Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother'.
Dance was the plan
Growing up, she was pointed at one thing: becoming a professional dancer. That was the whole shape of her future.
A hip injury ended it
The injury derailed the dance career before it started. She was a high school senior when the plan she had built everything around closed.
One class, just to test it
She signed up for acting to see whether it could do the same job dance did, feeding the need to perform and to create.
“I decided to take an acting class, just to try it out and see if that would be comparable or satiate that need to perform and to create”
It worked, so she ran
She enjoyed it, had fun with it, and kept going. The decision that followed was blunt: pack up and head to Los Angeles.
“I enjoyed it, and I had fun with it, so I just kind of ran with it. I was like, 'Ok, I'll go out to L.A.'”
Still rooted in D.C.
She spoke to Variety over Zoom from her home in Washington, D.C., the city she came up in rather than the one the industry runs on.
The short version
When the thing you built your life around closes off, the need behind it can still find another door.
